I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13 . My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to EL Capitan, a  36  rock of 3,300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew  37  I wanted to climb it. That has been my life’s passion ever since— 38  the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I’ve long made Yosemite my  39 .

About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of  40 , like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It’s  41  me why visitors started respecting the place 42  and treated such a beautiful home-like place this way.

I tried  43 trash myself, but the job was too big. I would  44  an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later. Finally, I got so  45  it that I decided something had to change.

As a rock-climbing guide, I knew  46  about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a  47 . On that day, more than 300 people  48 . Over three days we collected about 6,000 pounds of trash. It was amazing how much we were able to  49 . I couldn’t believe the  50  we made —the park looked clean!

Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and  51  132 miles of roadway.

I often hear people  52  about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by  53  rather than complaining. We need to teach by  54 . You can’t blame others  55  you start with yourself.

1.                A．narrow         B．loose           C．distant   D．huge

2.                A．gradually       B．recently        C．immediately   D．finally

3.                A．describing      B．climbing        C．imagining D．painting

4.                A．lab            B．palace          C．garden   D．home

5.                A．waste          B．goods          C．material  D．resources

6.                A．over           B．within          C．beyond   D．against

7.                A．less            B．least           C．more D．most

8.                A．breaking down   B．digging out      C．throwing away D．picking up

9.                A．wait           B．spend          C．kill  D．save

10.               A．tired of         B．used to         C．satisfied with   D．delighted in

11.               A．everything      B．nothing         C．something D．anything

12.               A．picnic          B．concert        C．cleanup   D．party

13.               A．looked around   B．called back      C．dropped out    D．showed up

14.               A．accomplish      B．overcome       C．demand   D．receive

15.               A．contact         B．difference      C．plan  D．visit

16.               A．covered        B．designed       C．crossed   D．measured

17.               A．argue          B．quarrel         C．talk   D．complain

18.               A．questioning     B．watching        C．doing D．thinking

19.               A．example        B．research        C．method   D．explanation

20.               A．when          B．unless          C．although   D．if

Everyone wants to win a first-place blue ribbon, to be the best in something. Even kids in Kindergarten want that blue ribbon. In sports, I was never a blue-ribbon person. In a race, I was always  36 . In baseball I was likely to be  37  on the head or drop the ball. During the spring of my kindergarten year, our class had a field trip to a park in a town about twenty miles away. Making that drive now is no big  38  but when you’re six and you’ve lived in a town of 300 people all your life, going to a big town of a couple of thousand people is really something.
I don’t remember too much about it. But there was one that I will never forget —the __39__ race. The parents tied our feet together. One little boy got me for a  40  . He was the second most   41 boy in our class so he usually won at everything and I knew that with me tied to him he didn’t have a chance. And I’m sure he knew he was in trouble. The gun sounded and we were off. Some couples were falling and stumbling all around us,  42   we stayed on our feet and made it to the other side.  43  , when we turned around and headed back for home, we were in the lead! Only one couple had a chance to win, and they were a good several yards behind us.
A few feet from the finish line, disaster struck: I tripped and fell. We were   44  enough that my partner could have easily dragged me across the finish line and won. But he didn’t. Instead he stopped,   45   down and helped me up — just at the other couple crossed the finish line. As a result, we received a small red ribbon for coming in second.
I still remember that moment when the young boy decided that helping a friend get on her feet was more important than winning a blue ribbon. And 13 years later, I still have that little ribbon because it’s a   46   that a friend like this boy is one who really   47  .